Each participant will have their own Work in Progress thread, which will be updated as the contest progresses. Please note that spectators aren't allowed to start new threads, but can reply to existing ones.

I'll probably go with the wings down in attack mode but haven't quite decided yet. Yes. There will be lights! I plan to build this as the KBOP from ST III; the movie where she first appeared on screen in all her glorious predatory villainy.

The parts were placed in a tub and allowed to soak for 5 minutes before being scrubbed with a soft scrub brush using Dawn dishwashing soap and warm water. This should rid them of any residual mold release.:

An interesting effect seen in ST III are the flickering warp engines. Using a 50% off coupon at Michaels craft store I bought a set of 6 Flameless Candles for 4 bucks. Not a bad deal. I'll cannibalize one or perhaps two to mimick the effect from the movie. No doubt some experimentation is in the offing.:

Anyway, not much to report on at this point.
Next I'll get started replacing some of the external pipes and conduits with metal or plastic rod and tubing.
The wingtip disruptor cannon barrels will need a lot of work in that regard.
I'll also drill out the windows.
I have some screencaps from STIII and photos of the studio model saved on my laptop and uploaded into my Flickr! album to work from which will be a big help.
I also have several images of Richard Long's excellent Bird-of-Prey to refer to; they should be especially useful for the paint scheme and weathering when I get to that point.

Has anyone else noticed this cover in the first image before? Are we to asssume that it lifts out of the way somehow before the weapon launches it's torpedo? Anyone have any insights they can share on this?

So, after further review, it appears there is no right or wrong way as regards the cover vs. grill question for the photorp emitter. Depending on which movie you reference, the emitter either had a cover, a grill, or nothing at all. So it is totally at the modeller's discretion on which version to go with. For my purposes, since the KBOP in STIII had the grill I'll be going that route. Just need to decide how to construct it. In the meantime, here are photos of my latest progress...

Prior to painitng the emitter I masked off the open areas that will glow when powered up:

I subsequently sprayed the part with Tamiya Gloss Black and Bare Metal Silver lacquer for light blocking. Not sure yet what the final color will be for the framework. Need to consult what photos I have of the studio model for that.

Moving along...

I drilled out the openings in the bow cowling around the mouth of the photorp tube. These will be filled with clear acylic and glow with a red light:

I used acrylic nail powder for the cowling openings (and the other window slits) filling them with the powder using the spoon side of a metal stirring stick. A strip of Scotch tape was placed over the backside of the opening to prevent the powder from falling thru:

After 5 minutes the tape was removed and any residual tape adhesive was wiped off using a swab dipped in alcohol. What I was left with were translucent clear windows. The acrylic is very hard, harder than the kit plastic in fact. Luckily there wasn't too much seepage under the tape; what there was, I was able to clean up by scraping with the edge of my exacto knife. I did find a few pinholes which I filled with a second application of powder and monomer. All in all I was satisfied with the results.

Last edited by trekriffic on Mon Jun 23, 2014 6:25 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Using the stand slot as a guide, I drilled and filed out a large hole for insertion of a short section of styrene tubing. A coaxial power plug will feed up thru the tube into a DC power jack mounted inside the lower hull:

The last thing I worked on yesterday was construction of these light boxes in the parts that go under the edge of the cowling at the front and down each side of the "secondary" hull. Red LEDs will glow inside the boxes pointing downward and shining thru two pieces of Tamiya transparent red acylic tinted clear styrene panels:

I took the plunge and am ordering the wing hinge kit from Don's Light and Magic. After reading the instruction sheet he has posted on his site I realized I was going to have clearance issues between the kit parts and the position of the power jack in the lower hull. So I spent a good 10 minutes removing the power jack; figured better to do it now than later when the putty has fully cured. I'll hold off until I have the hinge kit before attempting to reorient the power jack. I may end up having to hard wire the model to the dispaly stand if I can't get it to fit. We'll see.